16^th February 2019

A few games since the carnage that was the trip to Stirling, we had clearly learned no lessons in respect of getting the measurements right regarding the consumption of booze.  A mixture of a lack of sleep and too much alcohol means my recollection of the days events in my head are a high-pitched dog whistle, and a picture of the old BBC test card……

To the Kingdom of Fife for day 6 of our tour of Scottish Football grounds. It was unanimously decided that is was to be a trip to Dunfermline to watch Dunfermline Athletic v Inverness Caledonian Thistle.  Both teams playing their football in the Scottish Championship.

In attendance was myself (Simon) although I have a cheek to consider myself in attendance as I slept through the vast majority of proceedings, Ross as usual, Ian who made it to his 4th game, Boaby two games who was unsurprisingly at his second game and my brother Stephen.  Boaby 3 games who had been to the previous 3 games was unable to attend due to his liking of the nickname Boaby 3 games.

We set off early and got the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh, changed at Edinburgh and then on to Dunfermline by train. We could have gotten the bus, which would have been cheaper and probably quicker but Ross, being the big wean that he is, wanted to get a train over the Forth Rail bridge because he has never crossed it before.

A fair hit in the pocket this time, with a return from Glasgow to Dunfermline being £21.50 and a ticket for the game being £18, I was close to forty quid down before getting a pint in.  It can be done cheaper via bus but since our trip to Pittodrie was nearly ruined by a driver who wouldn’t allow beer on his bus. The tour is no fun unless we can get our drink on.  Worth every penny though as it was another cracker of a day (as far as I recall).

A bit about the team 

Dunfermline have been around a long time (1885) and have had of a few extremely bright periods of over achievement.  1960s was one of those periods with managers Jock Stein, , Willie Cunningham and George Farm, who between them guided the club to two Scottish cup victories, a record high of 2nd place in the league, another Scottish Cup final and the quarters final and semi finals of the European Cup winners Cup.

The club have since reached the final of the Scottish League cup twice in 1991 and 2006 and two more Scottish Cup final appearances in 2004 and 2007.

The club are nicknamed “the Pars”.  There are a few stories behind the origin of the name but none are that interesting so I’ll quickly move on.

The club badge is a strange one.  When researching I read that the badge was designed by an art teacher from the local High School in 1957.  It should be noted that the initial trials for the drug LSD were around this time and this may help explain the bizarre design of the badge which is a tower, an old tree and what looks like lightning bolts.  I’m sure if you look closely enough you can see in the back ground, a boat on a river with plasticine trees and marmalade skies.

I can’t let Dunfermline pass without mentioning former Manager Jim Leishman.  Growing up he was this guy with crazy hair and a moustache who always seemed to be on the back pages of the papers doing something mental or reciting poetry on the telly. If you get a chance, watch the attached You Tube link to the clip with Leishman in his prime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDaGtwSA-Uw

In season 2011-12 dark clouds formed over the club and Dunfermline fell into financial difficulties due to mismanagement and unpaid tax bills. The club had been relegated from the Premier league and then went into Administration in 2013. The Pars were deducted 15 points in 2013 and led to further relegation to the 3rd tier of Scottish football.

Back to back relegation’s and administration resulted in a fans consortium “Pars United”, who took over the running of the club.  I did a bit of research on the way that the club is now run and its good model in my own opinion for other Scottish clubs.  The club are slowly climbing their way back towards the Premier league and hopefully we will see them back soon.

The Game

The game kicked off at 3pm in front of a crowd of 4497.  East End Park holds 11,500 and large parts of the stadium were left empty, but still a decent crowd at this level.  We took up position behind the goals in the Norrie McCathie stand, named after the late Dunfermline legend.

I, as aforesaid, had not had nearly enough sleep, mixed with a dreary game and drinking a bottle of dreamy sleepy nighty snoozy snooze (Rum) with Ross on the train from Glasgow, I embarrassingly fell asleep during the game!

 

I was told though that the first half wasn’t great and was awoken by the half time whistle and swiftly headed to get a pie (or two).

The Pie(s)  Due to excessive drinking we probably purchased way too much grub at half time, with Boab eating a pie, a sausage roll and a bridie, Ross had a bridie and I had a macaroni pie, amongst other hot pastries, as far as I remember. A sure sign of my own drunken levels as I wouldn’t normally touch a macaroni pie with a ten foot sausage roll.  Ross gave his Bridie 6 out of 10. Ian gave it 8 out of 10.  I was just glad I kept it down.

 

With 3 shots on target in the whole match this one won’t go down as a memorable one of the tour.  Not the most entertaining game, in fact far from it.. A goal from outside the box that the Keeper should have saved resulting in the final score, Dunfermline 1-0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

A day out on the sauce.

We hit Dunfermline Town Station around Noon and headed straight for the East Port Bar for a pint.  A bit of a crawl before the match including Montys Bar, the obligatory Spoons, the Bruce Tavern and my own favorite, the Creepy Wee Pub,  across from the magnificent Dunfermline Abbey.

After the game, we went back into town to some of the same pubs but my memory of events thereafter are sketchy at best.

We decided to buy a case of beers, as if this was the common sense approach for 5 guys who were already steamboats.  It was ok though as Boaby Two decided he was feeling unwell and had no option but to spew into the case of beers, although it could have been due to an unrelated norovirus he had picked up during the course of the day.

I fell asleep on the train from Dunfermline.  We changed trains again apparently, although I don’t recall this, at Edinburgh.  I proceeded to snooze all the way back to Glasgow where we changed trains again and I continued to have another 40 winks back to Dumbarton, where I got off the train and went straight to bed for a full nights sleep.

 

 

Lessons should have been learned after the trip to Stirling but they clearly had not been resulting is a day of hazy memories and not much else.  A poor game of football (so I was told) but still a good time (from what I was told),  and we march onto the next game.

Until next time

The 42